Published 6:30 am, Monday, February 13, 2006

"I grew up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck," said Wilcox, who runs her own public relations company in Los Angeles. "They didn't save, and I didn't save."

Then she met Anthony Bloch, whom she plans to marry this summer. Her fiance, she says, brown-bags lunch, uses coupons to save on dry cleaning bills, rents a movie instead of going to the theater and cooks dinner at home rather than eat out.

"It was kind of a shock when we first started talking about our finances," said Wilcox, who is 34. "He was surprised that at my salary level, I didn't have more saved. He made less, but had more saved."

Most Americans in recent years have been better at spending than at saving.

The nation's savings rate dropped into negative territory at minus 0.5 percent last year for the first time since the Great Depression. A negative savings rate means consumer spending was greater than after-tax income, suggesting that Americans were also going into debt to support their spending.

"It's a consumption problem," said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com in North Palm Beach, Fla. "We have to learn to look ourselves in the mirror and say, 'I have to spend less money so I can save more.' "

Without savings, Americans quickly get into financial trouble if they lose a job or the car requires a major repair. They end up borrowing heavily to get their kids through school and face potentially dismal retirements without adequate financial resources.

The key is to start setting aside a small amount, even a dollar or two a day, to get into the habit of saving.

Wilcox, who runs Penguin PR, is now a convert to saving, both for things she and Bloch want to buy as well as for an emergency cushion and their retirement.

They figure they've saved enough to cover the entire cost of their wedding in June; then they'll start putting money aside as a down payment on their first house.

"We've made it a game," she said. "He'll come home and say, 'I put $1,000 in my savings account today.' Then I start thinking that I should put more money in mine, too."

Or, she said, "We'll challenge each other to find more ways to save," such as agreeing to put $100 into their savings account rather than going out to a restaurant for dinner.

Watkins said some Americans have been lulled into thinking that because their homes have appreciated greatly in value in recent years, they're financially secure.

"But people like my grandmother, she went through the Depression and she knows the downside of prosperity," Watkins said. "People 40 and under, they don't know the downside. You take chances when you don't know the risk."

It was Watkins' grandmother who taught him the basics of saving, he said, including not spending as much as you make, using a credit card only when you have to, paying bills when they're due.

Watkins, who teaches a personal financial planning course at Syracuse, suggests these steps to get started at saving:

•Keep a simple record of where your money is going, perhaps in a pocket notebook.
•Make a commitment to learning ways to manage your money better.
•Slow down your spending.
•Learn that not everything that's fun costs money.
•Set aside your savings at the beginning of the month, not the end when there may not be much money left.
"Most spendaholics are people who spend beyond the point of satiation, just like overeaters," Watkins said. "You can design a budget to give you some elbow room so you have the money to do the things you want — but you have to set a limit, and set it in advance."

Bradd DelMuto, 27, a senior account executive with Gregory FCA, a media relations firm in suburban Philadelphia, said he's been a saver since childhood. DelMuto, who is single, is frugal about his day-to-day spending so he can save more. He packs his own lunch, limits the purchase of expensive coffee and even hangs out at bookstores to read books and magazines rather than buy them.

He's also declared his savings account off-limits for frivolous spending.